1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to toilets and, more specifically, to pressurized flushing toilets.
2. State of the Art
Gravity type flush toilets or commodes are widely used. A gravity type flush toilet utilizes the gravity flow of water stored in a tank connected in fluid flow communication with a toilet bowl to provide the necessary amount of water to flush and cleanse the bowl. Such toilets use approximately 3 1/2 to 7 gallons of water per flush to ensure adequate cleansing of the toilet bowl.
Due to conservation concerns, low volume toilets have been designed which use less water per flush, typically one to two gallons. However, unless specific modifications are made to the toilet, such low volumes of water may not be sufficient to provide a complete flushing or cleansing action of the toilet bowl. Thus, pressurized low volume flushing systems have been devised which utilize pressurized air above the water in the tank to forcibly discharge the water from the tank into the toilet bowl.
Such pressurized toilet flushing systems utilize incoming water line pressure to provide the necessary air pressure buildup within the tank. The water line pressure also determines the amount of time required to fill the tank between flush cycles. In situations where the incoming water line pressure drops temporarily below a normal pressure level for long lengths of time or is generally not present at a sufficiently high pressure, the performance of such pressurized flushing toilet systems dramatically decreases since the low water line pressure requires additional time to fill the toilet bowl to the required level for the next flush cycle as well as to buildup the required amount of air pressure within the tank. If the water pressure is low enough, such pressurized systems may prove to be totally ineffective in obtaining the desired air pressure level required for a complete pressurized flush cycle.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved pressurized flush toilet which overcomes the deficiencies of previously devised pressurized flush toilets. It would also be desirable to provide a pressurized flush toilet which provides a desired amount of air pressure above the water in the tank regardless of the incoming water line pressure. It would also be desirable to provide a pressurized flush toilet which provides the desired amount of air pressure above the water in the tank in a short amount of time.